Baby shaker stays in jail

A Preston man who left a newborn baby with multiple fractures and bleeding on the brain deserved every day of his prison sentence, top judges have ruled.

Paul Anthony Howarth, 23 of Brackenbury Road, injured the tot when he shook him to stop him from crying.

He admitted intentional GBH, inflicting GBH and unlawful wounding and was jailed for eight years at Preston Crown Court in April.

Now three senior judges at the Court of Appeal upheld the sentence, which “could not be faulted”, Mr Justice Dingemans said.

The court heard the attacks on the tiny child only came to light after a third admission to hospital in the weeks after he was born. On the first occasion, the baby was vomiting blood and bleeding from the mouth.

Three weeks later, he was back in hospital again after help was called because it was thought he was not breathing.

Again he was dicharged, only to return to hospital a couple of days later.

Tests subsequently revealed a cataolgue of injuries, including fractures to the clavicle, femur and other bones. He had also suffered retinal damage and bleeding on the brain as a result of being shaken.

Howarth admitted he had injured the baby while trying to stop him from crying.

Appealing against the length of his sentence, Howarth complained that the judge had wrongly categorised his case as being of the most serious kind.